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Hard Times

Hard Times. Analysis of utilitarian industrialism and its affect on the possibilities of human happíness The force of the novel rests in t he juxtaposition of apparent and real knowledge , of the mechanical and imaginative

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Hard Times

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  1. Hard Times Analysisofutilitarianindustrialismand itsaffect on thepossibilitiesofhumanhappíness Theforceofthenovelrests in thejuxtapositionofapparent and realknowledge, ofthemechanical and imaginative Thenovelpoints to thetragicinadequacyofrationalschematization

  2. English philosophers John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) and Jeremy Bentham • (1748-1832) were the leading proponents of what is now called“classic utilitarianism”.  • The Utilitarians were social reformers • They supported suffrage for women and those without property, and the abolition of slavery. Mill was a strong supporter of meritocracy.(a social system, society, or organization in which people have power because of their abilities, not because of theirmoney or social position)

  3. Mill was a strong supporter of meritocracy. • Proponents emphasized that utilitarianism was an egalitarian doctrine. • Everyone’s happiness counts equally.

  4. Utilitarianism • utilitarianism is the philosophy that leaves nothing to imagination; everything is to be explained by the help of logic and facts. The goal of every individual should be to receive most pleasure out of life. • Utilitarianism intercedes for utility, well-being and pleasure in life. From the beginning of the novel Dickens introduces us to the utilitarian way of thinking. Gradgrind and Bounderby are the most outstanding representatives of the utilitarian philosophy

  5. In Dickens’ estimation, Victorian society was in a state of a serious bankruptcy of humanity. He found no place for imagination and flexibility in this way of thinking. Here in Hard Times, he miniaturizes British society in a small town called “Coketown”. Coketown is materialistically prosperous but the inner state of the people in town is the opposite. Children in the school are mentally suffocated by the tightening frame of utilitarianism. The majority of people in this society are under the fetters of the utilitarian system. Dickens attacks this utilitarian system with some free thinking individuals as his weapons. In Hard Times, Charles Dickens defends individualism against the utilitarian collectivism of the nineteenth century.

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